Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Jim Hill was abusing DAS (or the 2005 equivalent) to skip lines?
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Trespassing third parties
- Thread starter KeithVH
- Start date
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Giving tours.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure how a private walking tour he gave has anything to do with line skipping options, VIP tours (which skip lines) or DAS abuse.
Drdcm
Well-Known Member
I think it was just provided as an example of Disney cracking down on unauthorized tours in the past. Jim is a pretty well known example.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
He was just giving tours which is not allowed. This contradicts your claim that this only started recently.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
Again, the context of this entire discussion has been about DAS abuse, and the two aspects I mentioned were line skipping options.
flynnibus
Premium Member
IIRC at the time... it was getting to be a bit of a distraction and a bit of a show. So it was causing guest confusion.
Tha Realest
Well-Known Member
I never said it started recently, or that it was the first. I said “this crackdown” that occurred after the recent monetization.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
That’s not what these guides have been doing, in general they are travel planners that help their clients make reservations.
Apparently some guides were abusing DAS but what that exactly means is unclear and probably varied a bit.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
“This crackdown” is a meaningless distinction. They have been ongoing for decades. This was a series of several that were publicized, that doesn’t make it new or the result of recent changes.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
That is something people have assumed that became a big tangent.
Ramon was a Guest services plaid for almost 10 years before he started his company. He and his husband are quite well known to Disney. He did VIP tours among other things when he was a CM. His husband was a CM up until the Covid shutdown. Disney would frequently allow Ramon and his associates into guest rooms prior to their arrival so he could decorate, do a theme, or leave gifts.
Companies with brand recognition like Disney like to control the touch points they have with their guests. It’s a part of the experience.
Ceding a part of that experience to someone who more than likely does not have the experience or qualifications to represent the brand - why would Disney do that.
I have this vision of one of the tour guides in their mid-twenties telling the small group they are accompanying as the pass Cinderella’s castle “Yep. Right under the castle is Walt’s frozen head. It’s the room on the right when you enter the utilidor.”
Ceding a part of that experience to someone who more than likely does not have the experience or qualifications to represent the brand - why would Disney do that.
I have this vision of one of the tour guides in their mid-twenties telling the small group they are accompanying as the pass Cinderella’s castle “Yep. Right under the castle is Walt’s frozen head. It’s the room on the right when you enter the utilidor.”
That information was never made public. Disclosure of that info is a big NO NO.
Posters assume the only, or at least the major .reason for Disney's action is DAS abuse. I don’t think the issues are limited to that one issue
So wait. Walt’s frozen head is under the castle? Did I get the room right, too?
Chip Chipperson
Well-Known Member
So if he was a former CM, might that not be a reason why other CM's didn't rat him out to people higher up the food chain who would be able to make the decision to issue the ban? Also, having been a CM means that he should have been aware that he was breaking the rules with his business from the start. Just because he had enough CM's look the other way doesn't mean that management was cool with it. It's no different than Adam the Woo being banned for accessing backstage areas. He obviously had a CM help him get to the off-limits space but that doesn't equal "Disney allowing it." They were justified in banning him at that time and are justified in this case, too.
DryerLintFan
Premium Member
Everybody just likes to argue, lol. DAS is an easy argument starter. Like bringing up strollers or expressing your love for flour tortillas over corn.
DisneyHead123
Well-Known Member
I think that’s fair, so long as you acknowledge that Disney is within it’s legal rights in banning them.
On the question of should they have banned them, I’d need more information. I can totally understand how someone could innocently think that starting a Disney tour company was fine. There are people who sell nanny services in the parks, personal shopping services for resort guests, people who do in-room parties, and so on. If it was completely an enthusiastic mistake on the part of people who are actually Disney’s biggest fans, and they were treated like criminals and banned for life without warning? That’s a cold hard side of the Mouse I honestly don’t like seeing at all. Not cool. But it’s also possible that prior warnings were given and ignored, or that the tour guides were engaged in unsavory business practices. Again, I’d have to have more context.
On a somewhat related note, I’m always surprised by the number of Etsy sellers who straight-up sell licensed Disney characters on merchandise, when presumably not all of them paid for licensing rights. I read somewhere that Disney made the decision to build their Fandom by letting enthusiastic sellers do that sort of thing vs coming at hundreds or thousands of sellers with lawyers. Whether or not that’s true I don’t know, but I can see how Super Fans might assume that Disney was making a calculated decision to build good will and let certain things slide.
He has been doing it since 2010/11. His website is very clear. He was in the parks with guests at least 3 weeks a month. Disney was quite aware of what he did. He got invited to all the resort openings, special media parties for new merch or foods. Disney comped him multiple staycations to learn about new resorts or additions to resorts. He even went on a cruise or 2 on their dime.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
If someone just set up a kiosk to sell goods at Disney Springs, would you think it was cold to have them booted? What about someone selling drinks in a park? At what other businesses would it be acceptable for others to just set up their own business?